Well I definitely hear some improvement here! I was actually hoping that was your voice but just altered a little higher to sound like a girl's hahahaha. The beginning vocal arrangement is masterful, and perfectly enhanced with her voice. Are the lyrics Dutch? I'm just taking a guess. Then when the second part opens up with the piano, flute, and erhu combo...it actually reminded me of some of the sad music in Naruto hahahaha! Your instrument choice there was nice, but your instrumentation overall still seems very comfortable to me heeehhh. I'm waiting for that extremely sudden wrong turn with you, but you're here building up your character, so I can't blame you. Your melodies and harmonies overall are great, peaceful and emotional. There are some interesting turns in the key that are subtle but catch my attention musically. An overall fantastic mood setter, but still waiting for some madness to come hrehrehrehrehreh. Wonderful job!
Reviews for "A Long Way Home"
Thank you so much Zip, that's such a lovely review! The problem with me is that I haven't much experimented in too many genres of music, at least with FL Studio. I'm not even sure how to create a drum loop bwahaha, so I guess for this competition I'm trying to stick to what I know but injecting creativity whilst doing so. It can be boring doing the same kinda thing over and over again so I try to avoid that! ^ ^ The lyrics are in Danish. I just love Scandinavian languages, something about them sounds so Earthly. Also, wow @ the round 1 results... 0.2 difference!! Really great submission, you're a winner as well as steampianist in my eyes. Keep it up :)
This is an NGADM Round 2 review.
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Yes. Just yes. You have improved on literally everything that Blind Maiden lacked. When I said focus more on your instruments in Blind Maiden I didn't mean make more instrumental parts; rather I meant to blend your vocals in a bit more rather than have them drown out the instruments - that said, you make brilliant use of your instruments this time. Your composition in Blind Maiden was a tad bit simple at times and occasionally generic, but that's certainly not the case here anymore - the harmonies and melodies are just exquisite. There is also nothing at all generic/overused about this track, except maybe the name but who cares about the name?
Let me also mention how excellent that vocal intro is. Joy has a magnificent voice, and your vocal harmonies work perfectly with it. I love your subtle increase in volume of the vocal harmonies, which made the intro progress very well, and by the end of the vocal passage we've got a wonderfully thick and rich vocal sound that I get goosebumps when hearing. The piano can't really get any better - huge props to BlazingDragon for that. The technical side of the composition such as structure, transitions, ending, etc are mostly nailed. Hearing some lovely japanese influences in your instrumentation/melodies by the way! Also heard a bit of it in Blind Maiden too - is it intentional?
Like your Round 1 track, this has a few issues here and there. Your use of reverb is a tad too heavy. It worked perfectly for the vocal intro, but once that was over it caused your track to be a bit muddy, and not just in the part that you intended to be incohesive. I would've preferred a better transition between your vocal intro and the piano. Nothing too smooth because, of course, you're trying to symbolise the start of a journey, but right now the vocal intro feels detached from the rest of the track. This detachment might work with the story you wrote in the author's comments, but musically it doesn't quite work. Also, a few clicks/pops in the vocal recording but nothing I'd reduce marks for.
This is an incredibly good track. As I said in a review response to you, you're swiftly becoming one of my favourite artists on Newgrounds. Excellent, excellent work.
Score: 9.3/10
NGADM Review:
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Beyond a doubt, the highlight of this piece, are those fantastic vocals. They're very well sung, they're emotional, they fit in well with the theme of the piece, and they're well mixed. All in all, they're just right. They're definitely your strongest suit.
However, the instruments that come after are kind of disappointing when considering the quality of the introduction. They just sound a bit too fake, too robotic, to have the same striking effect as the vocals. The melodies and harmonies you used are fine, but the instruments that play them just aren't. There are also some mixing issues at points, with reverb drowning out notes when it shouldn't be.
Overall, this really is a great piece, and it has the potential to be more if you could work more on the instrumentation. Great vocals and great ideas, keep up the good work!
Score: 8.8/10
hi
the good and very god
the vocals are the best i heard until now
the background of the vocals is good and the piano the atmosohere to talk in general
this seems like alot really lot of work and like is it for a movie or something really beautifull and emotional
the not so good
even troght i really like the voice and the rest i could really understand the words rarely if i strain myself ,
there could be some more of the voice at then end
well 4.8 my rating great song
Hi.
The Good:
-Your singing is top-notch, just like the last round. It does sound like there's a bit of pitch-shifting at one point, but that's not really an issue. There's a lot of musicality in how it's sung.
-Nothing wrong with the way you use your strings, they sound fine.
The Not-So-Good:
-After all those natural and musically-sung vocals, you then have a COMPLETELY QUANTIZED piano and erhu at 1:07. I'm sorry, it sounds horrible in comparison. :(
-Some little mixing issue at 1:35, sounds like there were some misplayed piano notes an octave too high.
-This entire piece is REALLY reverb-washed and only not that muddy due to the few instruments.
-Off-key piano note at 2:16, sticks out like a sore thumb.
Overall: Score of 7.6/10. This is well-done, the singing is great, but the natural sound of it clashes with the quantized instruments. Your vocals are your best part - let them shine! This doesn't mean ignore the other instruments, you can still have them shine as well. You don't need to have them solo in order for this to happen.